CARSON, Calif. – The LA Galaxy’s Alan Gordon will look to the visiting team’s bench Saturday at StubHub Center, where the Galaxy will take on the Columbus Crew (7:30 p.m., Time Warner Cable Sportsnet, Time Warner Cable Deportes), and the memories likely will come flooding back to him.
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Gordon will see the Crew’s Gregg Berhalter, his former teammate with the Galaxy who will make his first visit to StubHub as a head coach, and Gordon understandably might wince a little.
“I remember hating Gregg for a long time,” he said with a grin. “I absolutely despised Gregg when he came in. He did everything he could to get under my skin and he did. He and I battled quite a bit, and it took me a long time to really respect the man that he is.
“After about five months of him and I going at it every single day I developed a great respect for Gregg. I think he’s a tremendous person. I’m happy for him and the career he’s had in coaching so far.”
The 43-year-old Berhalter is in his third season with the Crew and became the seventh head coach in that franchise’s history on Nov. 6, 2013. He also spent two years as head coach of Swedish side Hammarby IF and had more than 40 caps with the U.S. national team, which is where Galaxy head coach and former national team coach Bruce Arena saw not only his playing ability but his coaching potential as well.
“He’s intelligent, articulate and not afraid to talk to players,” Arena said. “Tactically he’s astute. He’s a physical fitness freak, a student of the game and he has a great passion for it.
“I had him with the national team, so I knew what kind of player and person he is. He checked all those boxes.”
The Galaxy’s Mike Magee, another former teammate of Berhalter, called him “an ultimate pro.”
“He held everyone accountable, he brought it every day and that became contagious within the group,” he said. “You look at guys like (former Galaxy defender) Omar Gonzalez and A.J. DeLaGarza and lot of other people and what they’ve done.
“I think everyone would thank Gregg a lot for what he brought to their game.”
Berhalter and the Crew (5-9-11, ninth in the Eastern Conference) will take on the Galaxy (9-4-13, fourth in the West) in a game in which the opposing sides are dealing with multiple absences. The Crew, for example, will be missing four players to international duty -- defender Harrison Afful (Ghana), midfielder Justin Meram (Iraq), midfielder Tony Tchani (Cameroon), midfielder Rodrigo Saravia (Guatemala) -- and two to injuries -- midfielder Federico Higuain and midfielder Will Trapp.
The Galaxy have been hit hard with injuries as well. Forward Gyasi Zardes will miss the rest of the regular season with a broken foot, midfielder Steven Gerrard is out with a sore hamstring and center back Jelle Van Damme is expected to miss at least two weeks with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee.
The Galaxy are winless in their last six games (0-1-5), but they do have a four-game home unbeaten streak against the Crew (2-0-2) dating to 2007.
Columbus, coming off a 2-0 win over the San Jose Earthquakes, is led by Ola Kamara’s 10 goals. Giovani dos Santos tops the Galaxy with nine.
LA GALAXY vs. COLUMBUS CREW SC
StubHub Center | Carson, California
Saturday, September 3 | Week #26 | MLS Game #271
7:30 pm PT (TWC SportsNet)
- The Galaxy had their winless streak extended to six games with a fifth draw in that time, playing a goalless stalemate with Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Saturday evening at StubHub Center.
- Crew SC put an end to their seven-game home winless streak – one game shy of the club record – winning for the first time at Mapfre Stadium since May 28 in their 2-0 win against the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday evening. Justin Meram scored a goal and set up another.
- The teams met once a year ago, reaching a 1-1 draw June 13 in Columbus. The Galaxy have won five of the last eight meetings between the teams, with two draws; the lone Crew SC win in that span came in 2014 in Columbus.
- The Galaxy have a four-game home undefeated streak alive vs. Columbus dating back to 2007, with two wins and two draws in that time. The Galaxy have not won in Columbus since 2011, though the teams have played to draws in two of the last three meetings there.
